Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, April 18th, 2024

What Factors Can Unite Afghans?

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What Factors Can Unite Afghans?

Unfortunately, the current political situation of the country is like a timeworn piece of cloth as catch from one side it will be torn from the other side.  Though lack of unity has always complicated the situation of Afghanistan, it is more worrying in the current juncture of history.  In clear term, Afghanistan is at a critical time which extremely needs to unity and should forget any personal, religious and racial interests. If we fail to collectively stand against the retrogressive elements, it may take tens of years to meet an opportunity so as to establish a free and fair democratic system. So, nothing will rescue Afghanistan except national unity. During the Soviet Union aggression, we could defeat a big emperor of the time but now we are unable to defeat a few terrorists that have no root in the land. There are many good examples in the world that changed their destiny using the power of unity. Today, there are nearly 200 countries in the world while only few of them belong to the same ethnic or religion group and then 190 countries of the world have been formed from different ethnic and religious groups while they live peacefully.

So, there is no doubt about power of unity but question is what factors can unite Afghans? How other nations of the world rescued their unity? In response to these questions, as a first factor, it is widely believed that united people need uniting leaders. There are many examples in the history that sometimes only one good leader has changed the destiny of a large nation while is more important in backward countries such as Afghanistan where political individuals are more important than political structures. Unfortunately, when look at the history of Afghanistan, Many Afghan politicians had ethnic mentality and they did not leave a good political legacy in the country. They used ethnic gaps as a political tool for reaching their individuals goals. They thought if the ethnic divisions are eliminated from the country, they would no longer be a leader. They were concerned not to lose their advantages which received under name of ethnicity and so their personal interests required intensifying ethnic issues in the country. Thus, there were some politicians who were worried about losing monopoly of power while the monopolistic politics has not benefited anyone in the country. All ethnic groups including Pashtun, Tajic, Hazaras, Uzabek and so on are extremely suffering from the consequences of domestic division in the country.

Given abovementioned factor, we need to aware people so as not to forget it every five years during national elections. We have to remember to vote for a leader who unites, not divides, a leader who encourages diversity, not racism, a leader who is well recognized, not unknown. Selection of a wrong medical doctor may kill only one person but selection of a wrong social doctor may kill the whole society. We will not reach this goal unless the leaders and heads are selected on the basis of meritocracy so that he can unite all unities and remove the name of Afghanistan from all shameful things. Therefore, the new generation should reach this understanding that building a great united nation largely depends on its heads and leaders.

 

The second factor which can unite Afghans is political culture. Unfortunately, in political culture of Afghanistan people do not trust one and other unless pertain to their own ethnic group considering others as stranger. Actually, their own ignoble is better than others' noble; their own uneducated is better than others' educated and so on.  From here the unity stops but the divisions and hatred starts. No tactic can change the condition unless we get rid of this political culture. The cultural foundation of Afghanistan should be rebuilt on the basis of love and unity. It is time to teach young children in educational centers that in love there is strength. It is time that political literature is reformed and no one uses any hatred words which are not good practice for national unity and shaky democracy of this country. Political language must be designed to unite the unities, races and mutual understanding.

The third factor which can unite Afghans is social justice. No country has ever reached the blessing of unity without social justice. It is highly important that new generation of Afghanistan deeply believe that social justice and meritocracy are an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous life within and among nations. We uphold the principles of social justice when we promote rights of minority groups, gender equality, children and other vulnerable people. Genuinely, we cannot become one unless we remove all barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability. Also, the government should advance social justice to remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, disability and replacing tradition to legal justice system.
In order to contribute to the national unity, all citizens, especially public media are responsible to abandon the notions of 'otherness' and embrace 'togetherness'. At least in twenty first century we must learn that Allah is one, the one sun shines equally to all, the goal is one and we have one country with one common interest and common troubles. In addition, the world is no longer white, black, yellow and so on. We must accept that any unity that doesn't have its root in the multitudes is tyranny. In fact, Unity in diversity is a concept of "unity without uniformity and diversity without fragmentation that shifts focus from unity based on a mere tolerance of physical, cultural, linguistic, social, religious, political, ideological and/or psychological differences towards a more complex unity based on an understanding that difference enriches human interactions. “Unity in diversity" is a popular motto within and among nation states, but the deep feeling of unity is not formed by motto or speeches it is beyond words.

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